The present invention relates to a water distributor, particularly for poultry, comprising a valve in which the valve body is a pipe and of which the valve stem is hung on a return spring, itself suspended at the bottom of the pipe, the valve stem obstructing the pipe as long as it is not made to tilt by the animals.
In practice, this type of water distributor that can be used by poultry, rabbits etc. is intended to provide a flow of water corresponding precisely to the direct needs or intake capacities of the animal.
Water distributors are already known in which flow is caused by the lifting of a valve stem. Such water distributors have the major disadvantage of not being tightly sealed when the valve stems are fitted on a single pipe, which is generally the case, and that the pipe is subjected to vibration, especially when the distributors are coupled to the food distribution installation. However, the fitting of the distributors on the food distribution installation is in practice very effective.
Document U.S.-A-2,510,252 describes a drop-by-drop distribution valve for poultry which comprises a water supply source having a delivery means which is open towards the base and provided with a seating, a valve stem closing the delivery by rising adjacent to the above seating, a spring returning the valve stem onto the seating, means for preventing the valve stem closing beyond a position which enables a film to be formed, and a suspended rod which is exposed to blows from the beaks of birds causing it to vibrate laterally, so that the valve stem allows at least one drop of water to pass, which collects at the base of the rod where the drop may be drunk.
The purpose of the valve described in document U.S.-A-2,510,252 is to prevent too great a quantity of water flowing when the rod is actuated by a bird, which causes a useless waste of water and wetting of the surrounding area which may be prejuduicial to the welfare of the poultry.
One disadvantage of the valve described in document U.S.-A-2,510,292 relates to the shape of the lower part of the valve stem and to the locations of the stops limiting the slope angle of the valve stem. The return spring is hooked into a groove in the lower part of the valve stem. In practice this groove is also intended to trap the water in its descent and act as a buffer reservoir. However, the coils of the spring along the valve stem retard the descent of the water. The stops, which, when the valve stem is steeply inclined, come into contact with the cylindrical portion of the valve stem or its vicinity, similarly trap the water through the effects of capillarity action. The result of all these influences is that there is an appreciable delay between the moment when the bird actuates the valve stem and the moment when the water is presented to the bird at the base of the valve stem. The bird may not have waited so that the water drops off before being drunk as there is not direct relation between the demands for water and the presentation of the water, which incurs the risk of causing the groove to overflow.